THE PILLAR OF KATSKHI

Here is a very Georgian idea to go and build a church in the most impossible place of the sector, at the top of this sandstone fairy chimney which dominates the valley around forty meters of an absolutely vertical wall. But the result is an extraordinary site! With such a configuration, the piton surmounted by a hermitage from the 9th century is surrounded by symbols and legends. The natives call it "pillar of life" and identify it with the true Cross. The plateau above the Katskhi Pillar is perfectly flat and covers an area of 150 ^m2. It contains the ruins of the hermitage church and paleographic inscriptions from the 13th century. Two "maranis", wine cellars, were rediscovered in the middle of 2010, indicating the presence of ascetic monks who were well equipped to live in autarky. The place, linked in the chronicle to the stylites, a branch of the asceticism of the early Christians, was resacralized in the early 1990s. In 2009, a state programme enabled the monks to rebuild a Byzantine-style basilica.

It is absolutely forbidden to climb to the top of the Katskhi pillar, a sign specifies this, especially as it is very dangerous. Only the monks have access to it. Nevertheless, the observation of this surprising construction is breathtaking, even without reaching the top, be certain of it. Here is an exceptional site that you will not fail to discover during your visit to Tchiatoura.